Archive By Section - Opinion

Even though the fiscal year just started July 1, the budget preparation process for the 2017 session has already begun. On July 26, the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget released budget instructions for agencies for the amended fiscal year 2017 budget and the FY18 budget.

The maker of those orange barrels and cones used in highway construction should be enjoying a boom in business as around $3 billion in transportation funding will be spent around the state in the combined fiscal year 2016 and FY17 budgets.

I don't have a bucket list, but if I did I would be hard-pressed to find room to add anything else. There is not much I have wanted to do that I haven't done from shooting the breeze with the president in the Oval Office to seeing the sun rise in the Scottish Highlands to being embedded with the brave men and women of Georgia's 48th Brigade Combat Team in Iraq.

The media hype surrounding the political parties' national conventions spotlights the enormous discord created by personalities and politics as the presidential election approaches. Getting short shrift amid slogans and the scramble for dollars and votes are the policy proposals that will affect the lives of Americans - and Georgians - long after Nov. 8.

June state revenues of $1.9 billion capped an incredible year for Georgia with total collections over $20.8 billion. June was a positive month, even excepting fuel taxes/fees, gaining 0.7 percent despite over $109 million in refunds going out to individual income tax payers.

Hey, boys and girls! What time is it? It's time for Answer Man! The show where we delve into inquiring minds and show you how little is on ours. Please note that all answers remain the exclusive property of the Yarbrough Worldwide Media and Pest Control Company located in Greater Garfield, Georgia, and may not be rebroadcast, retransmitted or refried without the expressed written consent of Major League Baseball. Let's take our first question:

You can understand why people were reluctant to attend the Republican national convention in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena this week, or for that matter the Democratic convention coming up in Philadelphia next week.

Virtually all states that Georgia competes with are struggling to meet the transportation needs of the present and into the future. The passage of HB 170 in the 2015 General Assembly was praised by some who saw the state stepping up to meet a need that was strangling the state and dissed by others who saw the new fees as unnecessary.

Have we gone totally, completely insane? It is not bad enough that the specter of Islamic terrorism hangs over us like a toxic cloud, now we have a sniper in Dallas killing five police officers and wounding seven others because, according to Dallas police chief David Brown, he reportedly wanted to kill white people in retaliation for the death of two black people in Minnesota and Louisiana by white police officers.

When Mayor Ted Terry talks about the recent decision by him and the Clarkston City Council to dramatically reduce the penalty for the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, he is careful to make one distinction to his interviewer.

Those addressing Georgia's uninsured and failing hospitals seem stuck between two options: expanding a government program (Medicaid) with its own long list of challenges, or doing nothing. It's a false choice.